Services funded by public money should be open to all, without alienating anyone.
The recent drive to contract out public services to faith groups risks undermining equal access.
Help us keep public services free from discrimination and evangelism.
The government is increasingly pushing for more publicly-funded services to be provided by religious organisations.
Many faith-based groups have carried out social service without imposing their beliefs. But religious groups taking over public service provision raises concerns regarding proselytising and discrimination.
65% of people have no confidence in church groups running crucial social provisions such as healthcare with only 2% of people expressing a lot of confidence.
Any organisations involved in delivering public services should be bound by equality law and restrictions on proselytisation.
Those advocating for faith organisations to take over more public services risk undermining these restrictions, which exist to protect both the public and third sector.
"We have concerns that some religious groups that seek to take over public services, particularly at local level, could pursue policies and practices that result in increased discrimination against marginalised groups, particularly in service provision and the employment of staff. Non-religious people and those not seen to confirm to the dominant ethos of a religious body, such as being in an unmarried relationship or divorced and being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, could find themselves subject to discrimination."
Unitarian Church (Submission to the Parliamentary Public Administration Select Committee about the Big Society agenda)
There are also concerns about faith-based mental health and pastoral care in public institutions, including chaplaincy programmes in the NHS and the armed forces. Where such services are funded by the state, they should not be organised around religion or belief.
Religious commentators are often keen to document the contribution of religious organisations to the third sector and social activism. But they fail to demonstrate why it should be the state's role to build this capacity or why local authorities shouldn't have legitimate concerns about religious groups running services.
Take Action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to protect secular public services.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
Council leader silencing debate on schools’ non-stun meat, NSS says
Posted: Thu, 17 Jan 2019 14:06
The National Secular Society has criticised the leader of Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire for "trying to silence" objections to the supply of non-stun halal meat to schools.
Kirklees debated the issue of non-stun meat in schools at a full council meeting on Wednesday, after recent NSS revelations that it and at least 16 other UK councils supply the meat.
Kirklees Council supplies non-stun halal to 43 schools.
After the debate the council's leader Shabir Pandor, of Labour, tweeted: "I'm closing the debate on halal at full council. Diversity is our strength.
"Those questioning our provision of halal don't have animal welfare at heart. They have targeted sections of the community which had caused fear. Our policy on halal will remain in place."
During the debate Pandor described opponents of the policy as a "small number of people" who "do not have as their priority animal welfare". A petition against the council's policy gathered almost 8,000 signatures in less than a month in late 2018.
Representatives of Labour and the Green party also made strong accusations against those expressing concern over non-stun meat. One Labour councillor called those supporting the campaign "divisive and despicable".
But Conservative councillor David Hall said the issue was one of animal welfare.
In response NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "It's bitterly disappointing to see councillors in Kirklees, particularly the council's leader, trying to silence debate over the supply of non-stun meat to schools in this way.
"While anyone who uses this issue to stir up anti-Muslim prejudice should be condemned, the scientific consensus is clear that stunning animals before they are slaughtered is more humane than not doing so. By supplying non-stun halal to dozens of schools Kirklees Council is normalising cruelty to animals. And its response to criticism of this appears to be to deflect attention by making blanket accusations against its critics. These mendacious silencing tactics must be called out for what they are.
"These councillors are dismissing the concerns of Kirklees residents who do not wish their council to supply this meat to children, including Muslims who reject the hardline interpretations of Islam that the council has effectively endorsed. Indeed the council's policy flies in the face of the fact that the majority of halal meat consumed by Muslims in the UK is from animals stunned prior to slaughter.
"Those who claim to be standing up for Muslims are in fact helping to stir social resentment and entrench reactionary views both among Muslims and against them."
The NSS, which briefed councillors before the debate, campaigns to repeal the religious exemption to the UK's animal welfare laws. The exemption allows animals to be killed without being stunned when the meat is intended for consumption by Muslims and Jews.
The NSS has previously raised concerns that non-stun meat is often sold or served to those who do not wish to eat it. Last year NSS research revealed that non-stun meat was widespread in UK supermarkets.
While the exemption remains in place the NSS advocates for the labelling of non-stun meat to allow consumers to make informed choices. The government has recently indicated that it will consider this measure.
NSS writes to councillors over discretionary faith school transport
Posted: Thu, 20 Dec 2018 16:56
The National Secular Society has urged councillors in Wrexham in north Wales to take a decision on transport to faith schools based on "equality for all families and taxpayers".
The letter comes as Wrexham Council considers proposals to stop providing discretionary free travel for children who live more than two or three miles from faith schools.
The council's executive board will now consider the plans in the new year.
In a letter to all councillors the NSS's education and schools officer Alastair Lichten said it was "not reasonable to expect residents to fund services which give some parents a particular chance to send their children to schools which suit their ideological preferences".
"Decisions over the allocation of scarce public funds are always difficult and emotional. However, we urge you to take this decision on the basis of equality for all families and taxpayers in Wrexham. Those who choose to send their children long distances to faith schools should not receive privileged treatment."
Mr Lichten added that "an increasing number of councils" in Wales and England were deciding to reduce discretionary funding for free transport to faith schools.
Councils are required to provide free transport in a way that gives children at faith schools a degree of preferential treatment. Statutory school transport arrangements entitle low-income children to free travel over longer distances if they attend faith schools.
Wrexham is among councils which provide preferential treatment beyond the statutory minimum requirements. It currently provides a long-distance service to 17 faith schools. It estimates that the discretionary service costs £302,000 and benefits 406 children.
The council is reviewing the provision of some of its services in a bid to save £9m more than it has already budgeted for in 2019-20. Its review is also considering the future of services such as local libraries and fortnightly bin collections. It has proposed a six per cent increase in council tax.
It has said it has "no choice but to consider reviewing a large number of services" because of the "current financial challenge is it facing".
This week a council committee voted against taking the plans forward. But a poll in local newspaper The Leader suggested most Wrexham residents supported the removal of preferential treatment.
Some councillors who oppose changes to the service have claimed they would be discriminatory, but the council's lead member for environment and transport is among those who has refuted this claim.
Explaining his decision to write the letter, Mr Lichten said: "Councils should spend their residents' money in a way that benefits all of them based on genuine need. They shouldn't fund services which give unreasonable privileges to some while giving a raw deal to others.
"This review is also a reminder that the government should look again at the requirement to provide special treatment to families who send their children to faith schools nationally."
Local authorities are legally allowed to discriminate on the grounds of religion and belief when providing school transport as a result of exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2010.
Image: School bus, © Thomas Nugent, via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 2.0]
